CAMERON VAN DER BURGH

As a one of the top short distance swimmers in the world, specialising in 50m and 100m breaststroke events, Pretoria-born Cameron van der Burgh has had his name splashed across the sports headlines many times. He’s won titles at the World Championships, the Commonwealth Championships, and holds the world record title for 50m breaststroke short course and long course as well as the 100m breaststroke title. He has held double world cup titles but perhaps his proudest claim to fame is that he is South Africa’s first home-trained swimming celebrity and record holder.

Van der Burgh began his swimming career late by general champion standards. At the age of eleven, having done very little swimming, Van der Burgh took part in his first inter-house championship at school and won. Building on his natural talent for swimming he went on to represent the Northern Transvaal B team in 1998, and moved up to the A team the following year.

In 2000 he was selected for the South Africa team for the first time, and in 2007 the former Pretoria Crawford College student grabbed the attention of the international swimming community, at the age of 18, when he won his first major international medal – bronze in the World Championship in Melbourne, Australia in the 50m breaststroke.

In 2008, at the age of 20, Van der Burgh took part in his first Olympics and went on to became Africa’s youngest world record holder, breaking several world records in short succession. In Moscow in November 2008 the Northern Tigers swimmer beat Oleg Lisagor’s 50m breaststroke record of 26.17 seconds, clocking in at 26.08 seconds. The very next day Van der Burgh beat Ed Moses’ 2002 record of 57.47 seconds for the 100m breaststroke with a time of 56.88 seconds.

A few days later, in Stockholm, Van der Burgh clocked in under 26 seconds in the 50m breaststroke, becoming the first person the in the world to break the 26-second barrier with a time of 25.94 seconds. His stellar performance won him the award for Best Male Swimmer Overall in the FINA-Arena World Cup (short course).

He also won a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke and a bronze in the 50m breaststroke at the World Championships in Manchester in the UK in 2008.

Driven to perfect his natural swimming talent and achieve 100% efficiency, Van der Burgh returned in 2009 to win the coveted gold medal in the 50m breaststroke race in the World Championships in Rome, setting a new world record; and also won a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke event.

An avid golfer and amateur photographer, Van der Burgh put in another strong performance in the 2010 season winning two gold medals (50m and 100m breaststroke) at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, as well as a gold in the 100m and a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke events at the 2010 World Championships in Dubai.

2010 was also the year the Audi A1 ambassador made his modelling debut, his ready smile, friendly personality and toned swimming physique capturing more hearts as Mr February in Cosmopolitan’s Sexiest South African Men Calendar.

Van der Burgh won gold in the 50m and broke the championship record in Barcelona, Spain in June this year, before winning two bronze medals for the 50m and 100m breaststroke at the World Championships in Shanghai. He also brought home two gold medals from the All Africa games held in Maputo, Mozambique recently.

Unlike previous South African swimming champions, Van der Burgh is the first champion-material swimmer not to head to the US or elsewhere overseas to train. Although he has been training recently under Tokyo-based Norimasa Harai, Van der Burgh does most of his swimming training at the Olympic-size pool in Hillcrest, Pretoria.

An avid coffee lover who professes to hate training, but thrive on the enjoyment of racing, Van der Burgh, at the age of 23, has already ticked off most of his major swimming goals – breaking a world record and winning gold at the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. He now has his sights firmly set on the 100m breaststroke event at the Olympics in 2012 – the shortest swimming course recognised at the Olympic Games. He has been training hard to improve his stroke and endurance.

The amiable Van der Burgh is also focused on giving back to the community and the sport. He’s helping mentor up-coming younger swimmers such as Chad le Clos and Charl van Zyl and sharing the tricks of the trade to speed them on their way to medals in the 2016 Olympics.